Skills Training for Struggling Kids

Michael L. Bloomquist, PhD, a child psychologist, is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, where he conducts research and trains practitioners. The author of books including Skills Training for Struggling Kids (for parents) and The Practitioner Guide to Skills Training for Struggling Kids (for mental health professionals), Dr. Bloomquist has written extensively about effective intervention methods. He has worked with struggling kids and teens and their families for more than 30 years.

• Introduction: How to Use This Book Getting Started and Staying with It 1. The Struggling Child: Understanding Your Child's Behavioral-Emotional Problems 2. Getting Back on Track: Coming Up with a Skills-Building Plan for Your Child and Family3. Taking Care of Business: Getting Going and Following Through Enhancing Your Child's Behavioral Development4. Doing What You're Told: Teaching Your Child to Comply with Parental Directives 5. Doing What's Expected: Teaching Your Child to Follow Rules 6. Doing the Right Thing: Teaching Your Child to Behave Honestly 7. Staying Cool under Fire: Managing Your Child's Protesting of Discipline and Preventing Angry OutburstsEnhancing Your Child's Social Development8. Making Friends: Teaching Your Child Social Behavior Skills9. Keeping Friends: Teaching Your Child Social Problem-Solving Skills 10. That Hurts!: Helping Your Child with Bullies 11. Hanging with the “Right Crowd”: Influencing Your Child's Peer RelationshipsEnhancing Your Child's Emotional Development12. Let It Out!: Teaching Your Child to Understand and Express Feelings 13. You Are What You Think: Teaching Your Child to Think Helpful Thoughts 14. Stress Busters: Teaching Your Child to Manage Stress Enhancing Your Child's Academic Development15. Surviving School: Teaching Your Child to Manage Time, Organize, Plan, Review, and Stay on Task 16. Teaming Up: Collaborating and Advocating for Your Child at SchoolEnhancing Your Well-Being as a Parent17. You Parent the Way You Think: Thinking Helpful Thoughts to Enhance Parenting 18. Cool Parents: Managing Your Own Stress to Enhance ParentingEnhancing Your Family's Well-Being19. Let's Get Together: Strengthening Family Bonds and Organization20. We Can Work It Out: Strengthening Family Interaction SkillsResources

Dr. Bloomquist speaks frankly to parents and emphasizes ways to overcome barriers to change, such as a child's protests against following rules. He also helps you learn to cope with your own emotional reactions in difficult family situations.--John E. Lochman, PhD, ABPP, Director, Center for Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems, University of AlabamaWe have been using the methods in this book with our two children for a while--Dr. Bloomquist's positive skills-building program is powerful! Practicing the skills and making them part of our everyday life has helped us grow closer as a family.--Margaret N. Dr. Bloomquist's approach has given us insight into why our son acts (and reacts) the way he does. Learning these techniques was like being handed an indispensable toolbox for addressing problem behavior. Now we can resolve challenges with a lot less chaos and stress.--Marci and Matthew H.Bloomquist draws on a wealth of experience in both research and applied settings. Strengths of this parent guide include its focus on children's and teens' competencies across a broad age span; the inclusion of strategies to enhance parental well-being and family functioning; and the emphasis on skills building for both children and parents. Highly recommended!--Robert J. McMahon, PhD, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, and Child and Family Research Institute, Canada -Bloomquist presents a wide variety of solutions for many of the behavioral and emotional challenges often experienced by children in the 5- to 17-year age range….The procedures presented are derived from behavior therapy techniques that are well-tested and well-proven. As with many current similar training books, this book can be modularized such that relevant sections can be utilized ensuring the skills training program is tailored for each particular child….Both the parental book and the practitioner book are complete in that they contain not only the training modules but all the forms and assessment tools necessary to enhance compliance and maintenance of treatment fidelity….Practitioners wanting a well-done, thorough, and comprehensive modularized book to offer to parents who wish to work along with the therapist would do well to recommend this pair of books.--Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 1/2/2014